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Why Boycott?

The state of Israel was built on land ethnically cleansed of its Palestinian owners. A majority of Palestinians are refugees, most of whom are stateless.

Since 1948, hundreds of UN resolutions have condemned Israel's colonial and discriminatory policies as illegal, and called for effective remedies.

People of conscience in the world have historically fought the injustice of apartheid through diverse forms of boycott, divestment and sanctions. As in the struggle of South Africans against apartheid, we in the Hudson Valley support the Palestinians in their fight for justice.

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

CODEPINK is thrilled to share with you the wonderful news that after seven years of hard work on the Stolen Beauty Ahava boycott campaign, Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories announced on Thursday that they plan to move their factory from the occupied West Bank to within Israel’s internationally recognized pre-1967 borders. This win would not have been possible without the sustained work of dedicated human rights activists around the world.

In a second BDS win, also on Thursday, global security giant G4S announced that in order to extract themselves from “reputationally damaging work,” they will be selling their entire Israeli subsidiary in the next 12-24 months.

Both the Ahava and G4S wins were achieved through coordinated work by human rights groups across the globe. Now CODEPINK, Jewish Voice for Peace, and others are leading the Stolen Homes campaign to ask worldwide accommodations leader Airbnb to cease listing homes in illegal Israeli settlements. The Stolen Homes campaign was launched in January 2016 with a petition and a CODEPINK-led protest outside of Airbnb headquarters in San Francisco. Last week, activists returned to Airbnb offices in San Francisco, Portland, Paris, and London to deliver over 140,000 signatures pressing Airbnb to stop profiting from and contributing to Israel’s violations of international law. The Stolen Homes campaign has also created a parody website where you can leave a comment to protest Airbnb's practices.

Monday, March 7, 2016

On Sunday Mar. 6, the Vassar Student Association (VSA) voted to pass the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) resolution, which needed only a simple majority, by a vote of 15 in favor and 7 opposed. The resolution calls for the VSA’s political statement of support of the BDS movement. The organization did not pass the concurrently submitted BDS amendment, which would have required the VSA to restrict funding from the Vassar Student Activities Fund. The amendment needed a 2/3 majority but failed by a vote of 12 in favor to 10 opposed.

To bring the resolution to student referendum, the VSA needs to be presented with 120 signatures (5% of student body). To bring the amendment to referendum it would need 360 signatures (15% of student body).